Digital Tradition Mirror

The Texian Boys

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Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

The Texian Boys

Louisiana girls, come and listen to my noise
Don't go marry those Texian boys;
For if you do, your fortune will be  ,
Johnny cake and venison and sassafras tea
Johnny cake and venison and sassafras tea.

When they go to farming, you needn't be alarmed,
In February they plant their corn,
The way they tend it, I'll tell you how,
With a Texas pony and a grasshopper plow,
With a Texas pony and a grasshopper plow.

When they go to preachin' let me tell you what they wear
An old leather coat all picked and bare,
An old straw hat more brim than crown
And a pair of dirty socks they've worn the winter 'round
And a pair of dirty socks they've worn the winter 'round.
When they go a-courtin', I'll tell you what they ride
An old pack-saddle all covered with hide
An old hair girth made out of a rope
A-straddle of a horse that can't fetch a lope,
A-straddle of a horse that can't fetch a lope.

When he comes in first thing you hear,
"Madam, your daddy has killed a deer.
And the next thing he says when he sits down,
"Madam, the johnny cake's too damn brown,
Madam, the johnny cake's too damn brown."

For your wedding supper there's beef and cornbread,
There it is to eat when the ceremony's said;
And when you go to milk, you'll milk in a gourd,
Set it in a corner and cover it with a board,
Set it in a corner and cover it with a board.

They live in a hut with a hewed log wall,
But it ain't got any windows at all;
With a clapboard roof and a puncheon floor,
And that's the way all Texas o'er,
And that's the way all Texas o'er.

They will take you out on a live-oak hill,
And there they'll leave you against your will.
They'll leave you on the prairie and starve you on the plains
For that is the way with the Tex-i-ans,
For that is the way with the Tex-i-ans.

Brandy is brandy any way you mix it,
A Texian's a Texian any way you fix him,
When other good folk are all gone to bed,
The devil is a-workin'in a Texian's head,
The devil is a-workin'in a Texian's head,
From Folk Song U.S.A., Lomax

RG

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!